Five Tips: How to visit the Garden of NPIRL Delights

The most frequent comment I hear from visitors to the Garden of NPIRL Delights is that they are "overwhelmed." I understand this. Four sims filled with the works of over 110 content creators - many of them quite complex - can have that effect. I worked alongside the artists for weeks, and I am still discovering new things. The good news is that there are several fantastic tools to make this easier for you.

If I were to take you by the hand and show you the Garden myself, here is how I would do it:

1) Arrival and Preparation: Take the HUD and Info
Teleport to the Garden from here. Beatrix Newt created a tranquil path at the entrance to the Garden with signage that invites you to "take" the HUD and info offered there. Please do!



2) Take the Tour
Just to your right as you exit the pathway, you will see the Tour area. Hop on the gorgeous Fleur de Lys-shaped vehicle, especially created for the Garden by famed vehicle maker (and founder/owner of the Ivory Tower of Prims), Lumiere Noir. The Fleur de Lys was scripted by Darek Deluca, the creator of XIDD Particles and Gadgets and the fabulous Particle Theatre, as well as a four layer installation at 3000m above the Garden that spans all four sims.



And off you go!



The ride is surprisingly smooth and pleasant, especially considering that you are crossing four sims.



You'll fly over many installations you might not have known about, otherwise.



There are many wonders in the sky. Having seen them, you will be able to plan your visits with a better idea of what is in store for you.



3) Wear the HUD
They said it couldn't be done. Really! Many expert coders warned me that we were going down the path of disaster, but Master Scripter Miki Gymnast pulled it off.

Look in your inventory for a folder called "Garden of NPIRL Delights Info" and inside it for the NPIRL Garden Tour HUD. "Wear" it. It will look like this but only fill a tiny spot on the lower left-hand corner of your screen.



"Touch" it with your mouse, and it will pull up a Second Life® teleport map. Choose "teleport," and you will find yourself at one of the installations at the Garden. And get this... the HUD will remember where you have been and take you to new places each time. Once you are wearing the HUD, you will be able to teleport to all these places directly from any spot on the grid, too.



4) Nifty Landmark-Ready Notecards
Loved the work of a particular artist and want to go back? Easy! Thanks to my SL brother, Corporate Jay, and in the same folder where you Garden HUD resides, you have four notecards, one for each sim. Open them... and voila!


Click to see large

Obviously, the notecards don't have to be stretched so large on your screen, but thought you might like to see their content.

5) Walk down the green glowy paths
That King of Glow, Spiral Walcher, spent many hours arranging his official Garden path throughout the four sims to ensure that you had ready access to every single installation on the ground.


Here we are, in the wee hours of the morning, welcoming our first guests to the Garden. That green glowy path will lead you to many adventures and surprises.

Along the paths, you will find local teleporters to the sky builds, too.

As you can see, many people contributed countless hours of their time, and industrial quantities of their knowledge and good ideas to make your visit to the Garden a happy one. I can't even begin to thank each one of them enough.

A little virtual nature + destructible buildings = FUN

A few weeks back, I got all caught up - literally - in the company of dozens of friends, with Tryptofaa Sand's tornado HUD. Everywhere you went, people were invoking tornadoes, and funnel clouds were forming all over the grid. While Real Life tornadoes are never fun, in Second Life®, they're nothing but.

Oh, I know I shouldn't have, and I admit I hid from AM Radio for days afterwards, but I even unleashed one at the Far Away. He forgave me for disturbing the peace there, and I did vow not to do it again, but don't you do it or you might catch hell!


Tornado at the Far Away

Now Trypto has come up with a new version that's loaded with cool stuff, but the feature that captures my imagination is one that allows you to destroy buildings. ^.^

Along with sample buildings, the 'Tornado HUD Destruction Kit' includes instructions and the scripts needed "to set up your own buildings, fences, trees (non Linden), cars and anything else you can think of to be picked up, torn apart and tossed around by your tornado... limited to 40 linked objects at any one time." You can see the tornado in action below (Trypto's Machinima is super well done) or go visit Tornado Island (teleport directly from here).


Second Life: Tornado HUD vs Destructible Buildings from Tryptofaa Sands on Vimeo.

Barefoot and pregnant, by Lauren Weyland

Ever wonder how prim babies are made and born in Second Life? Since it is such a personal experience, I asked NPIRL'er and comedienne Lauren Weyland (Happy Rez Day, Lauren!) if she would be willing to share her own story with us. Please note that Lauren is a proud single mom, with a predilection for female partners. Lauren, thank you! - Bettina
* * *
Risk!!
That was the first word my mind flashed on as I clicked inventory> object> wear: Tantra (Conception HUD).

Might those around me know I had become Second Life fertile? The risk was double since my womb could cycle avatoid or furry… and I had set the wrong cycle (to furry!) the first time. I did not conceive during my first avatoid cycle of 28 days and fear set in that I might not get pregnant in spite of the overwhelming yearning to… Thus I had wanted sex every time my HUD signaled it was a most fertile moment for me.

Elation!
Yes! That feeling that comes after missing a period, and the pregnancy test confirms what you already know and want. This moment arrives after a lonely time when you keep the possibility to yourself for over a week, which in Second Life is an eternity.

In SL you don't blurt out that you are trying to get pregnant, especially if you aren't married and sleeping with five women. The look in each pair of eyes when I presented the paternity test was amusing. Four of them turned to relief when they received their failing grade... and then there was the One desiring anonymity...

Gestation!
My pregnant womb would tell me my baby was kicking in the chat bar so all could hear and know. My four shapes left nothing to the imagination. Scheduled doctor visits placed demands on both FirstLife (FL) and my SL, plus the wardrobe from hell often detracted from the joy.

Then, four weeks later, I went into labor on a nightmarish SL Sunday. I waited five hours with my friend Luna at the hospital... clicking false labor. For the next hour, I pushed and screamed while being cajoled by the doctor and the two women who attended the birth.

Lauren's excellent friend Luna stood by her pal throughout the entire delivery.

Birth!
A joy, my daughter Lula, and definitely NPIRL.

* * *
Average Prices for Having a Prim Baby

Full pregnancy kit including interactive talking tummy: 4000L
Prim baby: 3500L
Pregnancy kit: 1500L
Ultrasound with photograph: 500L
Delivery room: 1000L
Stork delivery: 1000L
Birth certificate: 500L
Twins with all of the above: 10,000L